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EDUCAUSE 2008

Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL

October 28 – 31, 2008

This is a premier education technology conference and I am always impressed with the quality of the presentations, vendor hall, and the colleagues and peers I’m fortunate enough to meet with at the event. This year’s “theme” was:

Interaction: The ability to come together with peers, colleagues, and vendors in one venue is worthwhile in and of itself. Furthermore, it is through these interactions with others than can bring about generating ideas, inspiration, and innovation back on your campus.

Ideas: The shear wealth of exhibits, poster sessions, vendors, breakout sessions, and informal meetings and interactions in the hallways and before and after sessions generate an amazing set of ideas that expand your knowledge and enhance your expertise in the field.

Inspiration: The wide array of innovative ideas shared, presented, and discussed at this event are amazing. You simply cannot come away from this conference without being inspired to try something new or to bring back a project that you can work on back on campus.

Kudos to the EDUCAUSE Program Committee and Planning Teams for another outstanding event.

Abstract: The focus of this seminar will be to provide a look at desktop and enterprise solutions for the creation, management, hosting, and delivery of digital media, including podcasting. We will consider tools that allow the average person to create podcasts and coursecasts on their own. We will then look at enterprise-level systems, including commercial and open source, and discuss their ability to integrate and authenticate with course management systems. Hosting options (iTunes U, YouTube, and Screencast.com) will be explored. You will learn about the social, industry, and Internet trends that are defining the standards for digital media. You will leave with a resource guide containing information and links to systems and tools discussed, along with an instrument for determining needs and a guide to evaluating systems.

Notes:

It was a pleasure to work, prepare, and present with Kevin Reeve from Utah State.

We had 31 participants that ranged from faculty through CIO level.

I would like to thank our participants for the engaging dialogue and I want to say that it was an honor to share and learn with each and every one of you!

While everyone received a handout at the session, please check out our website with many of the resources that we covered: http://www.podcastinfo.org

Wimba is committed to providing the education industry’s most innovative and effective collaboration software but we couldn’t do it without you – our esteemed customers!

When: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Where: Margaritaville Orlando, Universal City Walk

Time: 7:30 – 10:30 p.m.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Blackboard Breakfast Session: CEO Roundtable on K-20

After introductions by the CEO, we’ll dive into a panel moderated by Jennifer Dounay of Education Commission of the States. Panelists will include:

Fred Siff, Vice President & CIO, University of Cincinnati

Bob Ervin, Vice President for Learning Technologies, Fayetteville Technical Community College

Donna Harrington, eLearning Technology Director, IDEAL-NM

Notes:

I was somewhat late to this session because of the bus schedule, however, this topic is of great importance to me since I believe that a seamless transition from K-12 to Higher Ed is what we need in this global, flat world that we are living in.

The panel did a great job of sharing their thoughts and experiences and directions.

I am impressed with how these panelists have been able to leverage the Blackboard Academic Suite to better align the goals from K-20 along with providing an easy transition for students. I would be interested in reviewing the potential capabilities for retention, developmental education, student engagement, examples of early warning and intervention.

It seems to me that colleges and universities can do a much better job at communicating outcomes, establishing connections between faculty and teachers, and to provide more effective faculty professional development.

A technology like Blackboard can provide the common unifying platform that can enable communication, collaboration, and synergy.

I think Michigan can establish themselves as leaders in this area with MVU, dual enrollment, and the new online course requirements for all new graduates. More locally, I believe that GRCC can work more effectively with our local intermediate school district since they also license the Blackboard Academic Suite.

Someone also asked about how the “Greening” movement came into play. One of the panelist mentioned huge savings for professional development… cutting down on face to face meetings… not to mention the ability for students to access course content and materials remotely. GRCC can also be a leader in this space our Sustainability Team by entertaining more deliberate projects that leverage Blackboard and Wimba technologies to conduct our core business of teaching and learning.

Here are a few real world examples:

Sharing learning objects across the K-20 spectrum

Online college preparatory classes and dual enrollment

Online professional development and certification for K-12 teachers

Parent access and notification of college oriented opportunities for students in high school

MVU and GRCC online courses

Non-traditional high school students such as ESL, special ed, gifted and talented, service learning

Better curriculum alignment from Kent ISD to GRCC

Internet2 and expanded capabilities for teaching and content rich and interactive technologies

College mentorship programs to K-12 students, mediated by technology and social networks

V.S. Ramachandran, Professor and Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego

Abstract: Phantom limbs foster understanding of brain function. Far from having fixed connections, even the basic “wiring” of the brain is constantly modified in response to changing sensory inputs. This has theoretical as well as practical implications for recovery of function from stroke phantom pain and RSD, a chronic pain condition, ushering in a new era for treating neurological diseases. Synesthesia, an inherited condition in which sounds and printed numbers are seen as colors, has a neural basis, which might provide clues to understanding high-level brain functions such as metaphor and abstraction that make human brains unique.

100 billion neurons in the human body… each neuron can make up to 10,000 connections… the number of possible brain states exceeds the number of particles in the universe.

The brain has targeted areas of certain functions which when injured, there isn’t the over all “blunting” of the brain, rather, that area of the brain’s functions are impaired.

Many targeted areas or modules interact a great deal and adjacent parts of the brain can merge into other areas in a dynamic collective way. This was learned from work with people with amputated limbs and phantom pain.

Virtual reality was thought to be used as a way to help patients with their phantom pain by having them move a virtual arm… that was going to be very expensive, for $4.00 VS used a mirror to help patients “think” they are moving their phantom by looking at a mirror and moving the non-phantom arm. Using this theory, he has helped many patients with their phantom pain and phantom paralysis, and making it going away.

Cross wiring can occur in Sinisthesia which indicates that adjacent areas can be related… say the number 5 is red. This cross wiring is usually pruned away by a “pruning” gene since Sinisthesia runs in families it is genetic.

Abstraction is the ability for your brain to take a shape with angles and associating it with a sound… say the “k”sound.

VC doesn’t believe in “Intelligent Design” he believes in random chance of evolution.

<Side Bar>Not to go into religion here… but since the keynoter put forth his beliefs I also feel the need to share mine! To me, this lecture really underscores to me the miracle and the complexity of the brain and how it works and functions and to me clearly represents that the brain was created by an intelligent creator… and that creator is God. I simply cannot believe that this level of complexity can come about by random chance or happenstance – it is not logical to believe such a thing. Emotion, abstract thinking, consciousness, etc. cannot be explained by random chance and evolution. To me, this lecture provides direct validation of the Bible… that God created all things! For another view on creation, see this video clip from Mars Hill Church Seattle, “God Creates“.</Side Bar>

Abstract: Imagine a freshman college student in the year 2015. She has grown up in a world where learning is as accessible through technologies at home as it is in the classroom, and digital content is as real to her as paper, lab equipment, or textbooks. In high school, she and her classmates engaged in creative problem-solving activities by manipulating simulations in a virtual laboratory or by downloading and analyzing visualizations of real-time data from remote sensors. Away from the classroom, she has had seamless access to school materials and homework assignments using inexpensive mobile technologies. She continues to collaborate with her classmates in virtual environments that allow not only social interaction with each other but also rich connections with a wealth of supplementary content. Her teacher has tracked her progress over the course of a lesson plan and compared her performance across a lifelong “digital portfolio,” making note of areas that need additional attention through personalized assignments and alerting parents to specific concerns. What makes this possible is cyberlearning, the use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning. Cyberlearning has the potential to transform education by enabling customized interaction with diverse learning materials on any topic, from anthropology to zoology. Today’s students already enter the university with high expectations for the use of technology in their learning and for maintaining relationships with their high school classmates, wherever they may have scattered for college or career. The educational system must respond dynamically to prepare our population for the complex, evolving, global challenges of the 21st century. Advances in technology are poised to meet these educational demands. Cyberlearning offers new learning and educational approaches and the possibility of redistributing learning experiences over time and space, beyond the classroom and throughout a lifetime. This talk will present the report of the National Science Foundation Task Force on Cyberlearning and its implications for higher education.

What is cyberlearning? The scale of interaction that results in a qualitative difference. “K – Gray”. The use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning. Interactions across time and space. Custom interactions with diverse materials, on topics that vary, and across age groups.

We are ready for another magnitude of change. Cloud computing, mass communication, recommend systems, social networking, sensor networks…

Why is this important? Leverages learning through communication technologies, and student’s technology skills.

Why now? NSF has been funding programs for a long time… the kinds of technologies that brought us the Internet… major investments in cyber infrastructure. We have better technologies and a better understanding with how to use them.

Abstract: In response to the video version of ACU’s vision for converged media devices like the iPhone, we are using building blocks of Google Apps, a Google SketchUp model of campus, Xythos digital locker and custom web apps to create a mobile toolset for faculty and students. This presentation will detail the implementation.

Notes:

This was an impressive session from the standpoint of all the applications that Abilene developed specifically for the iPhone. It did leave me wondering about the proprietary nature of Apple Inc… and the support for other mobile devices…

I am looking forward to Blackboard’s iPhone App since GRCC has an AT&T Grant whereby students were equipped with Apple iPod Touch’s.

Faculty can use the iPhone for the above also, but in addition they have a neat way to pull up student photo roster and use it to take attendance (Present, Tardy, Absent, Excused) right on their phone. There is even a game that was developed that faculty can “play” to learn the student’s names. When a student was marked absent, they are sent an email with this indicator. There is a “red/yellow/green” indicator also by their photo that shows how many classes they have missed.

ACU also developed a way to use the iPhone as a clicker, which make a whole lot of sense to me. I’m still on the fence with the value of using clickers in the classroom. See: http://m.acu.edu/polls In addition to polls there are submit a statement “word cloud” feature that allow students to enter a word which would be a neat teaching/polling tool. Reminds me of: http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Abstract: Carleton University, in partnership with Gotuit, has implemented a video mashup tool. This online tool allows students to tag, describe, edit, create and share a lecture highlight reel. This presentation will showcase the tool and talk about the benefits, concerns and implications of allowing students to edit an instructor’s lecture.

Notes:

This college moved all of their telecourse types of content to VOD, rather than DVD or VHS.

They have 35 courses per term and about 5,500 students.

The classrooms are ITV classes that have students in them, but the entire session is recorded and availbable within 24 hours.

Video that is mostly lecture get’s a bad rap for not being interactive since most video is traditional lecture. In this model, there is limited student engagment.

Many instructors are familiar with lecture but lack awareness and technique of other teaching practice and modalities.

Student often say: “I paid for you to teach me, not for me to do group work!”

There is a challenge to make things more interactive because of class sizes.

The approach as a tool is to allow students to work with the lecture. This allows:

Abstract: Ninety-seven percent of students enter college with cell phones, yet few universities leverage this ubiquity for teaching and university life. Colleges have two choices: continue to treat mobile devices as a nuisance, or embrace them by leveraging their mobile learning capabilities. ACU’s expanded view connects academic, social, and infrastructural m-learning applications.

Wimba Booth – GRCC Wimba Pronto Presentation

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

3:10 – 3:25 pm

Discussion on the application and leverage on the use of Wimba Pronto for extending

We look forward to seeing you at the Blackboard Invitation-Only Client Appreciation Party on Wednesday, October 29 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at BB King’s Orlando. Please print this email or your confirmation page and bring it with you to the Information Counter at the Blackboard Booth (#921) in exchange for a wristband that will allow your entry to the party.

Abstract: Today’s technology enables users to form and join communities of common interest to learn and share information. In opposition to the privileged learning spaces of higher education, social media encourage learners to seek out their own answers and construct knowledge as a community rather than as individuals. Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and Second Life offer new learning spaces, but how do they fit into the learning expectations of institutions?

Notes:

All communication is educational.

Allows for more community, exchange of ideas – web 2.0. It’s not flat… unidirectional – it is interactive.

Social media creates new ways to learn without the communities and structures created by institutions.

TED talks… connect with leading experts in various fields – easily.

Flickr… become aware, share, and interact with others around tools.

Learn… how to web sites and sharing allows learning outside of the classroom and in informal ad hoc ways.

What is the educator’s role in a world like this?

Information is Democratic… Wikipedia

Information is Amateur… YouTube

Information is Distributed… Del.icio.us, Bb Scholar, Diigo

This is a different model than the “sage on the stage”. We don’t need barriers!

Embrace the change…

Educators are no longer the gatekeepers of knowledge. We have to know that.

The role of educators has changed.

We need to focus on:

Teaching students how to learn in an information economy. This is your right and responsibility and a necessary skill.

Teaching students the importance of contributing to a community. (Mike Wesch, Netibes start page.)

Relating as more experienced co-creators rather than employers. Students “Be Kind to Your Erasers” – YouTube clip. Students created something that gives back, entertains, informs… Engage them as peers in learning…

Serving as guides as students shape their own paths.

In a world of social media, educators are more important than ever… Educators need to encourage active, engaging the learner, etc. Students shouldn’t have time to “distract themselves” with Facebook, etc. If they are doing that in class… they are not engaged in learning or the instructions.

* Moira Gunn, Host of Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, National Public Radio

Abstract: Moira Gunn provides a unique perspective into the wide field of technology by integrating her background as a software engineer, her early career at NASA, her current work at the University of San Francisco heading the information systems programs for working adults, and her many in-depth interviews on NPR Talk with the leading figures in technology. In addition, Gunn’s experience integrating podcasting, wikis, and more into the adult curriculum gives her insight into the nature of technology and what we can expect from it.

Notes:

Joel Hartman from the University of Central Florida has won the EDUCAUSE Leadership Award – Congrats Joel!

Catalyst Award is Regional Networks.

These are roller coaster times… we are being asked to slash the budgets…

Everyone wants to talk about trends… but in actuality technologies have “arcs”… there are ups and downs.

Exciting about the next big thing… but it quickly becomes last year’s blog.

The Arc of Technology as it reflects the Arc of IT Management…

Traditionally, IT management has followed the hardware… mainframes, personal computers, laptops, moved to embedded computers and cell phones. Now we have the “cloud”.

Every time there was a new rise in technology… IT often would manage it based on a previous technology.

Mainframes… the role was “we manage the iron”. We buy large software packages, we pay companies for changes, it is about centralized control. We control everything, the idea that we need to control all factors from lines of code to the hardware.

Minicomputers… suddenly departments and labs could buy their own computers… this didn’t set well with central IT who were used to controlling everything. The beginning of decentralized. Smaller community colleges handled this much better than larger universities because community colleges didn’t have to deal with large grants and research projects.

PC… individuals had computers. IT didn’t know what to do, because they were not connected and IT needed to make office visits. Struggle between centralized / distributed control.

We are starting to try to figure out how to manage servers and PC’s. Push technologies are the “devils work”… that philosophy is that things can’t change! Central IT needs to control everything… If it’s working, why change it? Buy a system and let it sit there… only update it if you have to. Computers “out there” are all at different levels. We are not used to letting go of control.

The “server farm” big software vendors, large software packages, localized control. Most times IT departments didn’t try to control departments and research etc. Now it is about integration of existing devices that are coming to campuses.

Cloud computing… Web services allow distributed network. Don’t have to support the big system as a single entity… rather, use what is available.

How do we make it all work? The fact is “the iron age” is over… it’s in the clouds. Historically IT departments manage the “trust” of making the systems work… but this is now that is a challenge and isn’t possible since everything is decentralized.

The Arc of Information – Information has lived through all of the various technologies.

The Arc of the Wiki – Howard Cunningham invented the Wiki. Those who build technology can never predict how it will it be used. Innovation occurs everytime you put technology into someone’s hands.

The next step is the cloud… applications and data are not having to do with hardware and centralized servers. If everything is in the cloud… then all we need is access. Data doesn’t reside on centralized servers or laptops… it’s in the cloud.

Opensource – Does everything we use need to be purchased? We need to understand that the technology itself isn’t the focus, it’s the changing of the model of the licensing and how innovation happens.

Faculty – Not all faculty are “ready”. We need to learn that learning is about sharing… we do this institutionally… sharing slides, etc. We also need to do this in the classroom. With Wikis… students can self organize. We have legacy IT we have legacy Faculty… but it’s not about the age of a person.

Publishing – Students are publishing on Facebook, things that they want.

Abstract: Most of us have come to our positions in information technology as what Marc Prensky would call “digital immigrants.” We descended from, and spend most of our time in, a primarily analog world, yet we have the responsibility to create and lead a primarily digital world. What resources can we consult to find a sense of direction and meaning as we navigate this strange new world?

Abstract: This fall, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative invites you to embark on a journey to map the top challenges in teaching and learning with technology. Attend this interactive session to learn from a panel of community experts about some of the top challenges on their campuses. Then, weigh in on the discussion, joining your peers in a high-energy brainstorming session to help develop a community inventory. You’ll also have an opportunity to explore how you can contribute as we inaugurate this project centered on community engagement and sharing.

Notes:

From creating and assessing learning spaces on campus…

…to innovating and assessing learning spaces in virtual environments.

Introducing new and emerging technology to the faculty: 64% identified emerging tech as top T&L area, identifications of technologies, pros and cons of emerging technologies, supporting students and faculty.

Innovation happens upon the exposure of tools by faculty and students.

* David Ernst, Director of Academic and Info Tech., College of Education & Human Development, University of Minnesota

* Session convener: Will Monroe, Head of Instructional Technology, Louisiana State University

Abstract

Instructors are increasingly using web-delivered video to capture performances in courses. To facilitate assessment of recorded performances, Academic Technology Services at the University of Minnesota developed VideoANT, a video annotation tool that offers the ability to annotate detailed information to specific points along the timeline of an online movie clip.

Notes:

This tool takes a video that is already on the web in flv format and wraps some text annotation on it.

Abstract: Party with the paranormal at Feel the Spirit!, where you’ll mix and mingle with dead ringers of your favorite musical stars at the Universal CityWalk® special Halloween fête. Rock ’til you drop with the likenesses of musical legends Elvis, John Lennon, and Janis Joplin, who will conjure up music so good, it’s scary. Sample devilishly delicious All Hallows fare with your fellow boys and ghouls, and dance the night away to some seriously spooky serenades. A special thanks to our sponsors, Lenovo and Zimbra.

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